The Parrot & Lily Blog — Decorative Arts

Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, Till envious ivy did around thee cling, Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,— O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep? Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep, Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep? This week, we are happy to share a breakfast suite featuringa beautiful Birds of Paradise print by Warner House. The Louis XV style set for four includes two wicker-back...

Marquetry and Parquetry in furniture Imagine the most curious collections of curiosities known to us. Artists' equipment, exotic birds, rare editions with a hint of musical instruments... And all this is just out of reach, behind a delicate and inexplicably fine curtain of veneer.    From generations of Boulles "bejewelling" Louis XIV's cabinets to the neoclassical masterpieces of Reisener- marquetry is an inseparable part of XVIII century French royal  furniture.XVIII century marquetry developed from Renaissance intarsia, originating in Italy where the above example can be found. Marquetry inlays can be done in any medium, including marble and brass. In wood, a mosaic of veneers is created by cutting...

You may have noticed that we love personalisation. And when it comes to initials and monograms, we are known to be obsessive. After all, there is nothing more inconvenient than someone mistaking your furniture for their own.If you look around the Parrot & Lily office, you will find ladies and gentlemen wearing their monograms on neat button-downs, working on engraved desks, using of course our custom pencil holders with their initials on them, writing with initialed pens on monogramed paper, all while sipping tea from monogrammed porcelain. (For the sake of accuracy- there is no accounting for taste and so, most of our office prefers coffee.)   ...

"The only way for us to become great or if this be possible, inimitable, is to imitate the ancients"   Everything we do is undoubtedly classic, but not every piece is classical. We like to believe that we are on the path of one day constructing a classical temple right here in our atelier. But we will admit that is a more fantastical notion for the distant future than a note on our production schedule. Until it can be unleashed, this is how we feed the beast. Classicism in furniture is hard to capture. After all, we have no furniture remaining from antiquity to...

  There are very few settings where the age-old tradition of heraldry is still taken seriously. But our mortal preoccupation with signage, symbolism and representation remains.   The beauty of custom-made is that our designs can be customised to your exact tastes and requirements. So we do rather wonder when someone wants to pick up one of our pieces off-the-rack and put it in their homes. Of course, sometimes one just falls in love with what already is. But how can you resist the opportunity to add a little bit of yourself to something that you are going to live with? Specially something as allusive as a nameplate announcing the...